


ZTD ficlets

by I_Otaku



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games), Zero Time Dilemma
Genre: ZTD, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma, Zero Time Dilemma - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6368023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Otaku/pseuds/I_Otaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yes I am writing fanfiction about a game that won't come out for months</p><p>No you can't stop me</p><p>((They're all individual ficlets))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The one visitor that left kudos](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=The+one+visitor+that+left+kudos).



"Please!" He screamed. "Please take it off!! Take it OFF OF ME!" The boy kept screaming, pleading and begging for someone to help. Anyone. The huge helmet on his head was a prison, his voice and screams swallowed by the hollow blackness only he could see. Nobody could see his tears. Nobody could brush the hair back from his eyes or wipe the flowing tears. His nose was running, eyes puffy and red but he kept going. The men and women watched, put off by the sudden emotional release displayed by the child. Yes, the situation was stressful, but none knew what to do. 

"Take the helmet off of me! I just want to go home!!" He screamed and screamed. His voice went raw, hitching and peaking uneasily. Soon, the little boy sank to his knees, chest constricted by his sobs and head swaying unsettlingly in the helmet. His hands were bright red, if he continued, they would bleed from the force at which he bashed them against the spherical prison. "Please! Help me!" The boys legs were pale and shaking, hands still smashing against the helmet. 

"Q?" A calm voice called out. 

The boy didn't respond. He was still screaming and crying himself hoarse. 

"Q!" The motherly voice spoke again. Suddenly, Diana rushed out from behind Sigma and Phi. The redhead crouched down beside the little boy, her hands moving to grab his. He didn't fight her, he hadn't the energy. 

"What did you do?" Diana asked, her worried gaze moving from Q to Eric and Mila. "I said, what did you do?!" She suddenly yelled. Neither responded, both the man and woman avoiding meeting Diana's gaze. After a particularly unsettling hiccuping sound echoed from Q's helmet, Diana returned her focus to the boy. "Shh... Sshhh..." She murmured, pulling the small boy onto her lap and rubbing his back gently. The boy finished his painful hiccuping, and this time began to sob hollowly. None of the participants could tell if the echo came from the helmet, or the silence engulfing them. 

Soon, it quieted. Much less suddenly than it had started, but no one said anything. Sigma looked at Phi, exchanging silent conversations. Akane met eyes with Carlos, the two drawing pained lines with their mouths. Both knew what it was like to see a pained sibling like that. Junpei looked away from the display. It pained him, to no doubt, but he couldn't do anything about it. 

Diana continued, even after the boy went silent, softly murmuring to him and cradling him. With the large helmet it was somewhat awkward, but she didn't care. He was a child. 

He was only a child.

And Zero brought him to this simulation site. Zero infected him with Radical-6. Zero had locked this helpless child behind a mask that raised more suspicion than empathy. 

Perhaps that was why Phi had moved closer to Sigma, and Akane closer to Junpei, each pair moving away from Diana and Q. Perhaps that was why Carlos did his best to hold back the tears and usurping sadness clenching his heart as images of his sister flooded his vision. 

And when he was fully silent, and body limp and frail, Diana motioned Sigma over. Carefully, she instructed Sigma to carry Q to the sofa in the first room, and she followed behind. 

No one spoke for many long moments.


	2. Chapter 2

She was beautiful. He looked up at the woman, and even through the screening of the helmet on his head, he could see the delicate way she carried her shoulders, the way she swayed gently when she talked, her hopeful smile that was like a ray of sunshine after a cloudy day. Was this what a mother was supposed to be? He couldn't remember if he had a mother, but just being around Ms Diana made him wish for one. 

For the first time since he woke up, Q was happy he had the helmet on. Nobody could see the embarrassed blush that crossed his cheeks when Diana had laughed for the first time around him. 

He supposed that was what made being trapped with Eric and Mila all that much worse. Diana was so kind and gentle and nice. Mila was none of those things. He was taught well though--or at least he understood basic human interactions as he has no memory of who he was before the Nonary game-- and Q said nothing rude to her. Even though she was snobby, manipulative, and demanding. She had Eric twisted around her finger, and it was so obvious that it hurt, but Q just kept to himself. He talked as little as necessary, keeping his posture closed and clenched, Q did his best to stay out of the way and out of sight. 

He didn't catch exactly what Mila had said, but before he knew, the two calloused hands of Eric were squeezing the small amount of neck under his shperical helmet. "You damn brat! This is your fault!!" Eric snarled, snaking his hands tighter and sending shocked gasps out of Q's mouth. The boy was raised now, back against the wall of the cell and and choked out speech best he could. 

"P-Please! S-... Stop!" His voice was getting weaker, and his small hands grasped Eric's much wider wrists. 

"Don't stop until he turns blue." Mila ordered, adjusting her shirt before examining her nails. 

Q looked at the cruel woman through the screening, eyes wide and mouth open although no one could see. From his new height although, he could now see out of the bars to where Zero once stood. By extension, he could see the window of one of the other team's door. 

"Help!" He pulled together his remaining strength, reaching out for getting someone's attention. He had heard their voices earlier. There had been a lot of ladies voices, and one very nice one belonging to a man, they could help! They could stop these two crazies!

His eyesight was beginning to fail and black specks decorated his vision when a face finally appeared. It was Ms Diana! 

"Put him down! Put the boy down you monster!" She was covered in... blood? The red of her sweater seemed to bleed upwards connecting to a red splotch on her face, and her voice wavered. By now she was more or less a mass of shapes, but soon Eric's meaty claws released, and let Q's body fall to the floor of the cell. "What do you think you're doing?! He's just a boy! What makes you think you could strangle him?!" Her voice was peaking and shaky but she yelled at Eric and Mila, she shut her eyes and shook her head and yelled with all her strength. No response came from the other team's room, but Eric and Mila began to shout back irritated, their speech laced with expletives. 

 

Q laid there on the floor, mind swimming and ears straining to keep up with the yelling- it just seemed to go by so fast so suddenly. Eventually it slowed, everything becoming normal again, but by then he was on the verge of sleep. Everything was just so tiring. Maybe when he woke up, somebody else could be trapped here, and he could go home. Or maybe he could run away with Ms Diana and she could be his new mom. Maybe even he could just die and end everything before it got even worse. 

Anything to get away from this crushing sense of hopelessness and pungant stench of death.


	3. Chapter 3

"Carlos." He said extending his hand. "Nice to meet you-" He shook hands with Junpei, flashing a smile. "Or at least it would be, if we met under different circumstances." He shook Akane's hand next. 

"Junpei." The shorter man replied, nodding his head as Carlos finished introducing himself. 

"Akane." The girl replied, her voice eerily flat.

Carlos looked to examine his two companions, and they seemed less than thrilled to be beside each other. "Forgive me for asking, but do you two know one another?" He genuinely wanted to know, as the tension was nearly suffocating each time Junpei and Akane nearly met eyes or brushed each other's shoulders in this small cell. 

"I've been looking for you for a whole year, where the hell did you-"

"Now is not the time! You and I both know what we need to do, this is no time for distractions!" Junpei started off angrily, shoulders snapping towards Akane who immediately cut him off and turned away. 

Carlos chewed the inside of his cheek, and just watched for a few moments. "Maybe you two should talk this out? Or at least find some way to not be at each other's throats?" 

"The fate of you, me, and the entire human race is relying on us Junpei." Akane spoke. To Carlos, it made no sense, but it seemed to strike a chord in Junpei. 

"Maybe I'm done playing the hero Akane." He spoke after a few silent seconds. 

"Will you two relax? I don't know what exactly you know, or your plans, all I know is that my sister is waiting in the hospital for me to visit her like I do every day. I can't die here, and I'd appreciate it if you guys would quit your bickering. We can figure a way out of this, but we can't shove it on the backburner for some sexual tension." Carlos spoke, voice stern and forward to match his now outjutting chest and thrown back arms. "I know you two probably have some crazy weird thing going on that I can't understand, I'm a simple guy, I get it. But we need to focus on getting out of here, and not snapping at one another." 

The cell was quiet, neither Junpei or Akane willing to budge on their views. Eventually, Carlos had moved to the barred window of the cell and grasped the bars. Another voice could be heard now, a man's. 

"Phi? Are you awake now?" He spoke, a shadow crossing the wall in the opposite cell. "It's happening, we can't screw this up." He said. "Diana, are you feeling alright?" A gentle woman's voice accompanied his for a brief moment. 

"Hey!" Carlos called out, pressing his face between the bars looking towards the one holding Sigma, Phi, and Diana. 

After a moment, a white haired woman's face came into view. She looked at Carlos, eyes piercing and steely. 

"Are you guys alright? How many of you are over there?" He asked curiously. 

"T-there are three of us!" A softer voice called out, pushing the white haired woman down and away from the door. A redhead repleaced her, big blue eyes meeting Carlos'.

"Yeah, the same over here." Carlos replied, looking over his shoulder to the sulking Junpei and perturbed Akane. "I think there's three over there too," he said, turning and motioning to the other cell just to his left, from which there were no sounds or voices. As if one que, a man and woman's voice groaned into the air. There was some shuffling, and a breif arguement. "You guys alright over there?" Carlos asked once it quieted down. 

Suddenly, a pair of wide hands moved to almost throttle the bars of the cell window, a nervous man's face moving to look at whoever spoke. His eyes seemed analytical, and as soon as he was seen he was gone. He returned to whatever he had been doing before. Following suit was a few grunts and whines that sounded like they were from a child, and angry swears blaming someone for this happening. 

"Is there a kid over there?" Carlos immediately yelled, nerves standing on end. If he was here, then what about...

"Some freak with a giant dome mask on." A woman's voice responded. "A boy." 

The blond man receeded from the window, hand moving over his heart. She was safe. Everything was going to be fine. 

"Is he alright?" Akane asked, coming up just to the side of Carlos. Neither the woman or anxious man responded. 

"I think we should introduce ourselves." Carlos said, looking back at the window that now showed Sigma, Phi, and Diana. "I'm Carlos, the people in my room are Junpei and Akane." He finished, motioning to Akane. 

The tall muscular man in the back responded first. "I'm Sigma."

"Phi," The short white haired woman said. 

"And I'm Diana." The redhead finished, a small smile dancing across her lips. 

"I'm Mila, and my partner Eric is in the room with me." 

Everyone had expected there to be a young voice next, but there were a few small coughs. Eventually, the child spoke, voice heavily muffled by his quiet demeanor and the helmet on his head. "I think I'm.... Well... You can call me Q." He spoke after a few pauses. 

"Does he amnesia? Is he hurt?" Diana asked hurriedly. 

"It doesn't matter about the brat." Mila snapped. "Do any of you have any idea what in the hell is going on around here?" Her voice was icy, and she seemed more than just upset although she didn't show it persay. 

"If there's a child here we can't take it lightly Mila." Carlos spoke to her. 

"She's right. Do not worry about the child." Sigma spoke loudly, pulling attention from the boy and exactly why he had the spherical helmet on his head. 

"Hello participants. Welcome to my domain." A configured voice rang out, followed closely by a tall figure in a plague doctor costume. "I am Zero, and you all are going to be participating in a game. The nonary game."


End file.
